Idiomatic, Secret Oath, Nest likely to meet again in Spinster

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Idiomatic, Secret Oath, and Nest – the top three finishers from Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga, are likely to meet again in the Grade 1, $600,000 Spinster at Keeneland on Oct. 8.

Idiomatic, trained by Brad Cox, scored a front-running, four-length victory over a sloppy Saratoga track in the Personal Ensign to notch her first Grade 1 victory while winning for the fifth time in six starts. In doing so, Idiomatic defeated Grade 1 winners Nest – the champion 3-year-old filly of 2022 – Secret Oath, and Clairiere.

“She actually didn’t surprise me, thought for a while now she was Grade 1 caliber,” Cox said. “She obviously had to step up and do it against top class horses and she did yesterday.”

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Idiomatic, who was coming off a victory in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap, in which she overcame a stumbling start, earned a 101 Beyer Speed Figure for her Personal Ensign victory.

Cox said he needed to speak with the principles of Juddmonte, which own and bred Idiomatic, before confirming the Spinster would be next. Juddmonte is the presenting sponsor of the race, one it won in 2013 with Emollient.

Cox said he would like to win the Spinster because he has not won the race, having run five horses in four runnings of the prestigious event including Bonny South who was third in 2021.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas had said before the Personal Ensign that the Spinster would be the next spot for Secret Oath. Her owners, Briland Farm, wanted to skip the Shuvee here in July and use the Personal Ensign and Spinster as a way to get to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita in November.

In the Personal Ensign, Secret Oath received a ground-saving trip from Javier Castellano and while she wasn’t a match for Idiomatic in the final furlong, she did hold off Nest by a neck for second.

Nest suffered her first defeat in four graded stakes starts at Saratoga. Trainer Todd Pletcher said Saturday that Nest came out of the race in good order and mentioned the Spinster and Beldame as the next race for Nest, but was leaning toward the Spinster.

Pletcher said the sloppy surface may have hindered Nest’s closing kick in the Personal Ensign.

“She just didn’t have that explosive turn of foot like she does on a fast track,” Pletcher said. “It was only her second race off a layoff, hopefully, it brings her forward again.”

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